Review by Catherine Coutts 

Many readers will be aware of UNESCO’s involvement in world heritage through the seven sites in Scotland, including St Kilda, the Forth Bridge and the Antonine Wall. But did you know that for many years, UNESCO has promoted intangible cultural heritage such as traditional dancing?

Scots will soon be invited to nominate their favourite traditions to be included on an official living heritage list. Submissions will be welcomed from all parts of the country, including the indigenous dance communities and those who have brought dance traditions from overseas to Scotland.

In the eve of UNESCO’s International Dance Day, as part of the Pomegranates Festival, the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland hosted the first public discussion on the opportunities for Scottish dances to be included on this list, whether they be at risk (such as the step dance Dusty Miller) or representative (such as the Highland Fling, Sword Dance, Gay Gordons, Dashing White Sergeant or Strip the Willow).

The evening opened with a demonstration of the Seann Triubhas by World Under18 Highland Dancing Champion, Eilidh Gammons. Eilidh’s dancing showed grace, power and perfect technique, demonstrating why she dominates the competitive highland dancing scene. She was nearly upstaged, however, by Lily and Lucy Clark, two youngsters starting on their dance journey who presented a very neat Highland Fling and Sword Dance with the biggest smiles.

The second performance came from the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS). The raked seating at the Scottish Storytelling Centre provided the optimum view for watching their formations, as the six dancers effortlessly flowed through them in perfect synchronisation. Whilst current choreography trends in both Country and Highland are fast and dynamic with dazzling costumes, it was refreshing to see both Scottish groups keeping the presentation traditional, allowing both the dances and their technique to shine.

The choice of music supported the dancers rather than competing against them, with Stephen Clark piping for Highland and Matthew MacLennan on the box for Country.

Four members of Falkirk’s Parzenica warmly executed a Polonaise wearing beautiful, colourful costumes of the Polish regions. This Polish group dance has already been recognised as part of UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Just like our Ceilidh dances, it is used for family and community celebrations.

The expert panel provided challenging and thought-provoking inputs with diverse perspectives on the preservation of traditional dances, including Hungarian Csárdás and Buso – both already inscribed in UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Wendy Timmons did a magnificent job in chairing the panel and keeping the discussions on track, however most speakers chose not to use a microphone which was to the detriment of the audience sitting further back.

A feature of the discussions was the work of bodies such as the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland, Royal Scottish Country Dance Society and Royal Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing in supporting Scottish dance in schools. This tied in well with UNESCO’s third strand of intangible culture:  good safeguarding practices. We are in a unique position in Scotland where our social dances are known and danced by a huge portion of the population. While our display dances are danced mainly by the young and fit, their names are well known.

It was an exciting evening to attend. I am looking forward to the next steps and seeing the dances which our communities would like to see included on a submission to UNESCO.

This review was written by Catherine Coutts with the editorial support of Róisín O’Brien and Iliyana Nedkova as a follow up of our inaugural Traditional Dance Criticism Course.

Trad Dance as Intangible Cultural Heritage event was held at Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh 28 April 2025 as part of the Pomegranates Festival 25-30 April 2025. It was Scotland’s first public gathering exploring the opportunities for traditional dance as intangible cultural heritage.

Images courtesy of Basya Volodarskaya.